1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to the formation of multicolor images with colored borders automatically inserted around the images.
2. Background Art
In conventional color electrophotography a series of electrostatic images are created on an image member. The images are toned with different colored toners and then transferred in registration to a receiving surface to create a multicolor toner image. The receiving surface may be on an intermediate member which repeatedly brings the receiving surface into transfer relation with the consecutive images to overlay them in registration. Usually however, the receiving surface is a receiving sheet of paper or similar material which has been secured around the periphery of a transfer roller, as described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/532,832 to Jamzadeh et al, filed Jun. 4, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,791.
The photofinishing industry worldwide thrives on a few commonly desired sizes of prints. In the United States, for example, nearly all prints are either (in inches) 4.times.6, 5.times.7, 8.times.10 or 11.times.17. Most photofinishing operations produce many more of the smallest size (4.times.6) than of the larger sizes. However, some flexibility is necessary in all machines that are not dedicated 100% to snapshots. In silver halide photofinishing, this flexibility is supplied by supplying photographic paper in roll form, exposing and processing whatever pictures in whatever sizes are programmed into the printer and whatever sizes are programmed into the printer and then later cutting the prints to size.
In electrophotography, conventional commercial color apparatus requires the use of cut sheets. That is, a single cut receiving sheet is positioned on the periphery of a transfer roller, the roller is rotated through a nip with a toner image carrying image member once for each color to be transferred, and a multicolor image is thereby formed on the receiving sheet such as shown in the aforementioned application to Jamzadeh et al, wherein a series of different color images are formed on an image drum and transferred to a receiving sheet carried by a transfer roller. Thus, the flexibility of silver halide photofinishing with roll paper is lost, and waste is introduced when prints are made in a format that does not exactly fit the size of the cut sheet.